Wobbler drive mechanism



F. L. VAN WEENEN ETAL WOBBLER DRIVE MECHANISM Filed July 15, 1946 July 17, 1951 2,561,060

ANGULBRLY RF-Sll-lENT 1N VEN TORS AND \J.H.STIGTER AGENT Patented July 17, 1951 2,561,000: WOBBLER DRIVE MECHANISM Application JulylS, 1946; Serial No. 683,678 Inthe Netherlands February 21; 1946' 3 C laims. l

The driving rods :used :in :wob'blingfdisc driving mechanisms may be :cou-pledtin ,difierent. manners to; the wobbling-disc and; tothe reciprocating: bodies, such as; pistons, coupled to the wobbling. disc; by means gofj the s'aid rods. It is; knownxto. utiliseball andsocket joints for this purpose. True-such joints. have th'reedegrees of freedom; of motion but they have 3110* given much satisfaction in practiceyovrings to theirinability-to transfer high powers Consequently, inengines comprising awobblinggdisc driving; mechanism for -the coupling ;of the-wobbling :disc-to the.;driv-. n rods,-use;is madez incerta nzcases f univ r a joints ,which have-two;- degrees. of freedomof m onand' wh ch-.iareused; in s chmann e at: each of the .driving,. rods-;fixed to thewobbling; disc 'withg-gthe. aid. of-- such a universalvjoint can more n. w L p anes; passi g. h u h; t e: I oneitud nal a s'o -the dr vin co ce n d wh h plan s t a m ke: an: an e-1 0?: hi mpl es that duri the p rationof h drivin rod o g o e mo ion wh ch t ey: derive from the wobbling disc, will also slightly n a kward. an rwa ut. heir xe with the result 1 that the body}: fixed to, such: a driving rod, suchas a'piston, tends to perform not only the reciprocating. movement aimed at but also a rotarymotion about'its longitudinal axis.

e engine During the operation of the-engineutilising such a wobbling discr driving; mechanism the driving rod concerned, owing, to this rotary mow tion, is, subjected to a torsionalstraimby, the mass of the said 'body. Whenthewobbhng-disc mechanism has a high speed, say higher; than 50,0'revo1utions per minuteand/or the mass of the body fixed to the driving rod is large; there is. -a,possibility that torsional oscillations-occur, which may be disastrous-to, thedriving rods;

The, present invention purports to; provide means whereby this drawback .is met.

The piston engine with Wobb1ing-disc. -=driving mechanism according to the invention, in which the driving rods are coupled to the wobbling disc by means of universal joints, has the character- I istic that between these universal joints and the reciprocating pistons there is provided a mechanism such that the pistons can freely rotate, at least through a limited angle, about the centre lines of the associated driving rods.

By proceeding in this manner there is no risk of the pistons performing torsional oscillations that are detrimental to the period of life of the driving rods, since the pistons will adjust themselves at comparatively any arbitrary manner to I be able. to rotate; about the centre; lines-of the associatedr driving rodsthrough an unlimited angle; an angleofqlimited value alreadyisufiicesi,

obtainin the desired effect, one may pro;- ceed -indifferent manners: Thus, itis possible to divide the driving; rods; into two} partsand to make one. part; together with the pistonsfixed to it, freely rotatable at least. through aliinitedg angle..with respectto theother portion of tl e; driving rod; which is coupled to. the; wobbling. isc y ans o a un salti int. A or ing to, one; advantageous form of construction, the, pistons, are ,fixed to. the driving rods so, as ..to,-,be., freely. rotatable. l on them.

In order. that. the invention. may be. clearly understood and readily carried ,into effect, .it.wil l now be, explained .more..fu1ly;-withreference. to e a com any 1e r n Thefldr awing shows diagrammatically a. piston; en ne th. w bb i di riv m h ism reference numeral I denoting, the, main shaft of the engine having mountedonit two: flanks and. 3, which protrude in ,oDpQsite. directions and which; are. firmly interconnected. by means of ,an .inclined portion 4-.0f theshaft. The. main shaft I.is.supportedinbearings 5and'6. The. wobbling, disc] is fixedon the portion il o frthe shaft so as to be-freely rotatable. on it. The. bearingsbetween the portion ,4 of the shafkand the wobbling disc Tare omitted for simplicitys sake, A certain number of pistons are coupled. .to the. wobbling disc Lby means of 1 driving, rods, two of thesepistonsdenoted by 8 and 9, being shown inthe drawing.- The pistons fi and Bare m ovab1 e. in cylinders I land I I r(showndiagrammatically). epent e nes. i h. re rallel. to .each. other and parallelito the centre line of. the. main shaft .I. Thepistonst and 9..are coupled t the; WObbIiIlgffiSC .I by means of drivin rods I 2a 2b, and Bags-13b. The driving-rod I portionsl I 2d. ,and I30, are coupled to the pistons 8 and,9.,by.,means of resilient elements I4 and I5 which permit the connecting rods to assume an angle relative to the center lines of the pistons. Stated in other words, the elements I 4 and I5 are bendable in any direction at an angle to the main longitudinal axes thereof, whereby the last stated operation is possible.

The universal joints I6 and I! are constituted by pins I8 and I9 respectively, which are firmly secured in the wobbling disc I and on which sleeves 20 and 2| can rotate freely. At points located diametrically opposite each other the 3 sleeves are furnished with projecting pins of which only those denoted by 22 and 23 are shown in the drawing. The driving rods l2 and 13 are rotatable about these pins.

Since the universal joints l6 and I! have but two degrees of freedom of motion, the driving rods I2 and it, if no particular precautions are taken, owing to the movement imparted to them by the movement of the wobbling disc 1, will perform not only a reciprocating movement but also a reciprocating rotary motion and the latter motion, if it would be imparted to the pistons might lead to disastrous consequences for the life of the driving rods particularly at high speeds of the engine. In order to meet this drawback, in'this embodiment of the invention the driving rods l2 and 13 are divided into two parts interconnected by means of couplings 24 and 25, which are realised in such manner as to transfer solely a reciprocating movement but no rotary motion from one driving-rod portion to the other connected by means of such a coupling. For this purpose the'driving-rod portions IZa-IZb and l3al3b exhibit flangelike portions 26, 21 and 28, 29 respectively, a ball ring 30 being located between the opposite terminal surfaces of the driving rod portions l2a and l2b and a ball ring 3| between the adjacent terminal surfaces of the driving rod portions l3a and I35. Furthermore, as can be seen from the figure, there are provided ball rings 32, 33, 34 and 35, which are kept together by clamping bushes 35 and 37, each of which is constituted by two parts. Consequently, the couplings thus obtained transfer solely the reciprocating movement of the driving-rodportions I25 and I3?) on to the driving-rod portions l2a and 13a (and hence on to the pistons 8 and 9), the

reciprocating rotary motion of the driving-rod portions I21) and 13b not being transferred.

As a matter of fact, the said couplings may alternatively be mounted at different places, notably at the places where the driving rods are fixed to the pistons.

What We claim is:

1. A piston device comprising a wobbling-disc driving mechanism, a plurality of piston masses each reciprocable along the respective center line thereof, a plurality of driving rods each of a substantially rigid construction in the axial direction and each operative-1y connected at one end thereof to an associated one of said reciprocable piston masses by a laterally resilient means for allowing that each of said connecting rods may assum an angle relative to the said center lines of each of said piston masses, respectively, a plurality of universal joint means each coupling said wobbling-disc to the other end of each of said plurality of driving rods, and each of said rods comprising a plurality of other means each located between the two ends thereof for dividing each of said rods into two portions and permitting relative bodily rotational movement between said two portions.

2. A piston device comprising a wobbling-disc driving mechanism, a plurality of piston masses each reciprocable along the respective center line thereof, a plurality of driving rods each of a substantially rigid construction in the axial direction and each operatively connected at one end thereof to an associated one of said reciprocable piston masses by a laterally resilient means for allowing that each of said connecting rods may assume an angle relative to the said center lines of each of said piston masses, respectively, a plurality of universal joint means each coupling said wobbling-disc to the other end of each of said plurality of driving rods and each of said rods comprising a plurality of other means each located between the two ends thereof for dividing each of said rods into two portions and permitting relative bodily rotational movement between said two portions, said other means each including a ball ring coupling.

3. A piston devic comprising a wobbling-disc driving mechanism, a plurality of piston masses each reciprocable along the respective center line thereof, a plurality of driving rods each of a substantially rigid construction in the axial direction and each operatively connected at one end thereof to an associated one of said reciprocable piston masses, respectively, a plurality of universal joint means each coupling said wobblingdisc to the other end of each of said plurality of driving rods, each of said joint means allowing only two degrees of motion for the end of each of said driving rods connected to said wobblingdisc and preventing turning of each of said driving rods about the axes thereof with respect to said wobbling-disc, and means in each of said rods between the ends thereof for dividing each of said rods into two portions and permitting each of the said piston masses operatively associated therewith to freely rotate with the portion of said rod connected thereto at leastthrough a limited angle about the center line of the said associated rod.

FRANCISCUS LAMBERTUS VAN WEENEN. WILLEM HENDRIK STIGTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS I Ingram May 1, 1934 

